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Pompeo can give Trump an edge over Kim

Roger Boyes

The new secretary of state’s experience at the CIA will influence the North Korean summit

It is all hands on deck at the White House. If there is to be a deal with Kim Jong-un, it will be a defining moment for the Trump presidency. Out goes hapless Rex Tillerson, although as head of the State Department he once favoured a dialogue with North Korea; in comes the hardliner Mike Pompeo from the Central Intelligence Agency. President Trump has made his choice ahead of the summit, in favour of disruptive diplomacy and against traditional statecraft.

It is easy to see why and it has nothing to do with Tillerson having called the president a moron, or (his last gaffe in the beady eyes of the White House) calling out Russia for its likely involvement in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal.…